LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission set the state’s deer hunting seasons last week, with modern gun deer season opening Nov. 8, archery season opening Sept. 27, and muzzleloader season opening Oct. 18. The deer season dates are part of the 2014-15 general hunting regulations approved during the Commission’s monthly meeting.

The commission also approved the harvest of feral hogs only during bear, deer and elk firearms seasons on certain WMAs. The regulation permits some taking of nuisance feral hogs, without promoting the recreational hunting of feral hogs, on Commission-controlled property.

In other business, the Commission:

*Authorized AGFC Director Mike Knoedl, on behalf of the AGFC, to enter into an agreement to purchase 42 acres on Highway 7 near Jasper. Purchase price of the property is $250,000. The purchase will go forward after an appraisal and review, environmental analysis, survey, title commitment and other due diligence. *Discussed the Cane Creek Lake and Lake Chicot drawdowns and the daily creel limits on the two fisheries.

*Authorized AGFC Director Mike Knoedl, on behalf of the AGFC, to enter into an agreement to purchase 959 acres adjacent to the Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms Wildlife Management Area near Georgetown in White County. Purchase price of the property is $1.8 million. The purchase will go forward after an appraisal and review, environmental analysis, survey, title commitment and other due diligence. The AGFC has secured $1 million through a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to begin the acquisition and has a second NAWCA grant in review that would provide the balance of the anticipated purchase price.

*Reviewed the 2013-14 deer harvest. AGFC Deer Program Coordinator Cory Gray told Commissioners that hunters checked 213,199 deer. The harvest is the second highest on record behind the 2012-13 record of 213,487 deer. Compared to last season, the buck harvest decreased slightly from 110,448 to 105,952 while the doe harvest increased from 103,039 to 107,247.

*Agreed to execute a quitclaim deed on a 5.72-acre tract of the Gene Rush Buffalo River WMA in Searcy County. A land survey and title search revealed a claim of ownership by Kathryn Rogers superior to AGFC’s interest. The AGFC will quitclaim the land to Rogers. The agency’s title insurance will reimburse the AGFC $2,000 per acre for the loss of the acreage.

*Honored 35 AGFC employees for their years of service to the agency. The group represented 430 years of experience.

*Arkansas Wildlife Federation President Wayne Shewmake presented the AGFC’s Arkansas Stream Team with the group’s Water Conservationist of the Year award. Stream Team Program Coordinator Steve Filipek, as well as Stream Team coordinators Matthew Irvin and Ben Thesing, accepted the award on behalf of the program.

The lesson was made indelible on Good Friday in southeastern Arkansas.

Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge is the new name of the sprawling complex of bottomland that hosts enormous numbers of migrating waterfowl in addition to year-round denizens ranging from black bear and white-tailed deer to squirrels, alligators, alligator snapping turtles and a plethora of songbirds.

The refuge is an Arkansas treasure. Dale Bumpers is an Arkansas treasure. It took an act of Congress to put his name on the refuge, one of just a few in the nation bearing a human label.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Mike Knoedl called Bumpers a legend in the state. “His conservation advocacy will leave an indelible mark on Arkansas for future generations. It is fitting and long overdue that he be honored for his work to preserve this unique region,” Knoedl said.

Former U.S. Sen. Bumpers was the architect of an unusual and innovative land swap that greatly increased the size of the refuge.

The three-party trade was 41,000-plus acres of Arkansas hardwood bottomlands. transferred from Potlatch Corp. to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. in exchange for 17,000-plus acres of Idaho western pine land transferred from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to Potlatch. It took place in 1993.

Bumpers had leading roles in other Arkansas environmental developments as governor and senator. The battle against channelization of the Cache River turned during his gubernatorial term. The Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, just north of the refuge now bearing his name, was established in 1986 with Bumpers’ actions in Congress. Arkansas State Parks was revitalized and expanded during his governorship.

Health issues prevented Bumpers from attending the naming ceremony at refuge headquarters at St. Charles in Arkansas County. Sons Bill and Brent were on hand, along with U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, USFWS Director Dan Ashe and USFWS Southeast Regional Director Cindy Dohner.

He (Bumpers) is a giant among conservationists and a visionary who followed an unconventional path to set aside some of Arkansas’s last wild places, Ashe said. “It is fitting that he will be forever linked with the White River.”

After unveiling of a sign with the new name, Ashe and Dohner presented a smaller replica to Bill and Brent Bumpers.

Bumpers is a native of the small town of Charleston in western Arkansas. As attorney for its school board in the 1950s, he helped it become the first Southern school to take in black students after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court integration decision. He defeated incumbent governor Winthrop Rockefeller in 1970, won re-election and went on to four terms, 24 years, as a U.S. senator, retiring in 1999. He’s a member of the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame.

Public land elk hunting permit applications available May 1

LITTLE ROCK – If you want to have a chance to bag Arkansas’s largest game animal, then mark May 1 on your calendar. That’s the day the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission open’s up its public elk permit process.

The application period is open during the month of May, and both the applications and the 25 available elk permits are free.

There are a few requirements. Applicants 16 or older must have a current Arkansas sportsman hunting license or an Arkansas lifetime hunting license. They also must be at least 6 years old to hunt big game in the state - elk, deer, bear and turkey.

All applications must be made online on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's website, http://www.agfc.com/licenses/pages/permitsspecialelk.aspx.

One additional permit for the 2014 hunt is issued to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for fundraising. Eighty-five percent of the proceeds from this granted permit are returned to Arkansas for wildlife habitat work. In addition, a youth permit is given to the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation and Arkansas Wildlife Federation for fundraising activities.

Three permits will be issued to Arkansas residents who complete applications during the Buffalo River Elk Festival at Jasper in late June. For these, the winners must be present.

Two hunts, five days each, are scheduled this year – Oct. 6-10, and Oct. 27-Nov. 31.

Permit winners will be notified by phone or mail and will receive an information packet by mail. Hunters will be required to attend an elk hunting orientation and training session held the day before the opening of each hunt.

Improving elk habitat near the Buffalo River is another benefit of the permit process. Many applicants send donations to the elk program for food plots, prescribed burning and other work in the elk range. A donation is not a requirement for permit application, and a donation does not improve chances of being drawn for a permit.

Applications for private land elk hunt permits will be available June 1-July 15.

AGFC stocks more than 245,000 fish during March

LITTLE ROCK – Fisheries crews from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission stocked more than 245,000 fish in Arkansas lakes and rivers during March. The total stocking of fish weighed more than 111,000 pounds. Sportfish stocked included trout, catfish, bass and bream.